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Rolling Out a Success Story

As a Rehab Support Worker I take great honor being involved with Michael McNally aka Big Mike’s road to recovery in rehabilitation.  One of his goals was to participate in the annual BIST Walk, Roll, and Run in 2012 and 2013.  He is not only a survivor of a MVA but also an inspiration to other survivors to never give up in their recovery process. He has made significant physical gains in his rehabilitation from being bed-ridden, to standing, and now able to walk with a walker.  Big Mike will participate in this event for the 3rd consecutive year (2014) and this time he has set a goal to walk the final 20 metres across the finish line with his front wheeled walker.  For those of you who will be participating in this event, keep a look out for Big Mike.  You’ll hear his cheers and see him give high 5’s to others as they cross the finish line.

Here is what Mike has to say about achieving his goals:

“There was a little bit of rain coming down, but we prevailed. My brothers Mark, Matthew and my therapist Phillip took part in a five kilometer event at Sunny Brook Park in Toronto, Ontario Saturday, September 21st2013. It was a little rainy at the beginning of the race, but it stopped raining just as the race started which made the run a little better, but we ran through it and persevered. When the race was finally over we all took a breather. We needed it. Then we had a chance to grab some food for everyone that was taking part in the race. The food went down very nice. It hit the spot. We sure needed it after running five kilometers. After the food went down, we started to mingle with the other people who also participated in the race. We met other participants that were also in wheelchairs who had various injuries to their brains. We met a man that wrote a book about his accident and the achievements he has made. He played wheelchair basketball. He has also had a chance to play a round of golf for the first time in five years.  He loved every minute that he was playing; he hopes to play a game of baseball one day. He inspired me to achieve my goals. I have a few goals I have set for myself such as walking, and going home to my wife and children.”

Written by: Michael McNally and Phillip Lam, RSW